Brackets for attaching wall fixtures



March 21, 1961 J. T. MOUILLE, SR

BRACKETS FOR ATTACHING WALL FIXTURES Filed Dec. 3, 1956 INVENTOR. JOHN T Moll/a5, 5n,

4 WM Ana/p63 Unite States Patent BRACKETS FOR ATTACHING WALL FIXTURES John T. Mouille, Sn, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Schulte Brass Manufacturing Company, Inc., Nor-wood, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 3, 1956, Ser. No. 625,895

8 Claims. (CI. 50-22) This invention relates to improvements in brackets for attaching wall fixtures to a wall and particularly to a tiled wall.

In the past in order to secure wall brackets to -a tiled wall it has been necessary to break the tile to the extent of providing an opening for the reception of cementitious material that had to be utilized for securing the attaching bracket to which the wall fixture was subsequently secured.

By the present invention there is provided a wall bracket that may be secured in operative position without in any manner mutilating the wall tiles.

It is therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a wall fixture attaching bracket that can be secured in position Without in any manner mutilating, damaging, or cutting the tile.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a wall fixture attaching bracket that cooperates with the tiles of the tiled wall for securing same in operative position.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a wall fixture attaching bracket that is economical to produce and economical to mount in operative position thereby materially reducing the cost of installing wall fixture supporting and retaining brackets.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent by reference to the following specification considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing fromor exceeding the spirit of theinvention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fragment of a tiled wall showing a wall fixture in operative position thereon.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the wall fixture with its mounting bracket in operative position, as seen from line 22 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the wall fixture in operative position as seen from line 33 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the wall fixture mounting bracket of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the wall fixture mounting bracket of the present invention as seen from line 55 on Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the wall fixture mounting bracket embodying the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view through the modified form of the fixture mounting bracket as seen from line 7--7 on Fig. 6.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

As was noted above this invention pertains to an improved wall fixture mounting bracket and particularly ice to such a bracket as employed with walls formed of a plurality of tiles such as ceramic tiles, metal tiles and the like. It should be here noted that by wall fixture is meant any fixture utilizable on a wall for holding an article or for holding a decoration such as the towel bar illustrated in the drawings but including a glass holder, a toothbrush holder, a hook, a shelf bracket, an individual towel ring, and any other fixture as heretofore known and employed in bathrooms, kitchens and the like.

As is Well known a tiled wall is the interior finish of a wall and comprises a plurality of individual tiles 10 which are rectangular in plan and are generally square. The said tiles are connected to the wall proper 11 through a mastic or grout and which material is generally employed between adjacent edges of the individual tiles for securing them to one another and which grouting joint is indicated by the reference numeral 12. The thickness of the grout joint 12 is quite small by comparison with the area of the individual tile and is measured in thousandths of an inch and is generally less than a sixteenth of an inch although this particular measurement is of no appreciable consequence insofar as the present invention is concerned.

Wall fixtures may be located at most any point on the wall depending upon its utility and its convenience with respect to the other fixtures of the room although the said point of wall fixture location is generally selected near an edge of an individual tile for convenience in mounting and the present invention contemplates such locations.

Strictly for the purpose of illustration, and in no mannor as a limitation, a towel bar 13 is illustrated as having its one end supported by an arm 14 which is secured to the wall by the improved wall bracket of the present invention. It should be noted that the bracket is secured to the wall at a point between two tiles located one above the other. The towel bar arm 14 is a casting having. near its outer end an opening 15 of the cross-section of the towel bar 13 to receive an end thereof. The inner end of the arm 14, similar to all other wall fixtures, is

enlarged as at 16 and is provided with, at least, a hol-- low or recess 17 inwardly from its inner end. The said. recess 17 has its upper wall 18 provided with an undercut 19 in the general form of a dovetail. The lower wall 20 of the recess 17 is devoid of the dovetail 19 having instead a substantially horizontal face 21, for a purpose to Extending angularly through the said fixture lower wall 20 is a securing screw 22 provided on its inner end with a cone-shaped end 23..

The wall bracket receiving the fixture or arm 14 is in dicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 24 and! may be generally designated as U-shaped in cross-section. The U-shaped wall bracket 24 is formed of a pair of' parallel arms 25 and 26 in spaced-apart relation and.

be subsequently pointed out.

joined by a horizontal portion 27. The spacing between the arms 25 and 26 may be considered a channel and. is such as to receive a tile 10. The rear or inward arm 25 and the bracket base 27 are of relatively thin cross section while the forward arm 26 is relatively thick; and

constitutes a mounting plate; it should be noted that thebracket base 27 is of a thickness comparable with the usual spacing of the tiles from one another such as the grout thickness 12 above referred to.

The arm or mounting plate 26 of the bracket 24, as-

illustrated in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, has its upper end slightly upwardly of the base 27 with said upper end being provided With an inclined upper surface 28 and of substantially the same inclination as the dovetail slot 19 in the fixture arm 14. The said bracket front arm or mounting plate 26 has its lower end in the plane of the lower end of the rear arm 25 although this is not necessarily controlling and the said lower end of the mounting plate 26 is likewise provided with an inclined surface 29. From the foregoing, and as seen particularly in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, the said front arm or mounting plate 26 is in crosssection, a true dovetail.

In practice the recess fiat face 21 is spaced from the recess dovetail or undercut 19 a distance that the fixture or arm 14 may be placed over the mounting plate 26 with its upper dovetail or inclined surface 23 and fixture dovetail recess 19 in engagement and with the inner or fiat face 30 of the fixture or arm 14 against the outer surface of the wall tiles lit. The said fixture is then secured in operative position through the locking screw 22 which is screwed to interengage its cone-shaped end 23 with the lower inclined face 29. It will be appreciated that the said cone-shaped end 23 of the screw 22 clamps on the inclined face 29 that said screw 22 and inclined face 29 act as cams for forcing the dovetail groove 19 into clamping engagement with the backet dovetail 28 and at the same time focing the flat face 30 of the fixture or arm 14 against the faces of the tiles.

The fixture mounting bracket 24, as just described and particularly illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, is formed as an extruded alluminum casting and therefore as a onepiece construction.

The modified bracket illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 is formed of metal stampings and includes the dovetail formed portion, or mounting plate, 31 as a dish or cupshaped stamping including a bottom 32 with an upwardly, outwardly, flared rim 33 at the periphery of the said bottom 32. Behind the said stamping 31 is a second metal stamping 34 somewhat U-shaped in vertical cross-section and comprising a rear or mounting arm 35, a forward or carrying arm 36 and a connecting member or base 37. Said stampings 31 and 34 are connected with one another through any suitable or desirable means and with the rear surface of the bottom 32 of the dish-shaped stamping or mounting plate 31 in face contact with the forward surface of the carrying arm 36.

The securing of these parts to one another may be effected in any suitable or desirable manner such as by braising, spot welding, or rivets, the latter being illustrated in the drawings. As illustrated the said bottom 32 of the mounting plate 31 and the carrying arm 36 of the stamping 34 are provided with apertures in alignment with one another and through which extend rivets 38. It will be understood that the rivets will have their inner surface in alignment with and flush with the inner surface of the carrying arm 36 so that no interference is afforded to the sliding of the stamping 34 on a tile in mounting it in the position of the bracket 24 as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

From the foregoing it will be noted that a wall fixture and its attaching bracket may be secured to a tile wall without in any wise breaking or cutting the tile since the said wall fixture is carried by the tile instead of by cementitious material which forms a part of the wall behind the tile as was the practice in the past.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described the combination with a tiled grouted wall formed of individual tiles having opposed relatively plane surfaces with grout therebetween, of a wall fixture mounting bracket comprising a forward mounting plate on the exterior surface of the wall, and a rearwardly projecting bracket arm including a rear arm portion rearwardly spaced from the mounting plate and a connecting portion, said connecting portion being of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles and said rearwardly projecting bracket arm rear arm portion and mounting plate being spaced from one another by said connecting portion a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile and embracing a tile between them.

'2. A wall fixture mounting bracket for mounting a wall fixture on a grouted tilted wall the combination with a tile of said wall having a width and a relatively plane upper edge opposed to a second tile having a relatively plane lower edge and with said tiles plane edges spaced from one another with grout therebetween, of an inverted U-shaped bracket comprising a rear arm behind said first mentioned tile, a fixture mounting plate for wardly of said first mentioned tile, and a connector of less width than the said first mentioned tile connecting said rear arm and forward mounting plate with a distance between them substantially equal to the thickness of the tile with said connector including a portion located on the upper plane surface of said first mentioned tile and of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the opposed plane surfaces of said tiles.

3. A wall fixture mounting bracket for mounting a wall fixture on a grouted tiled wall the combination with a tile of said wall having a width and a relatively plane upper edge opposed to a second tile having a relatively plane lower edge and with said tiles plane edges spaced from one another with grout therebetween, of an inverted U-shaped bracket comprising a rear arm behind said first mentioned tile, a fixture mounting plate forwardly of said first mentioned tile, a connector of less width than the said first mentioned tile connecting said rear arm and forward mounting plate with a distance between them substantially equal to the thickness of the tile with said connector including a portion located on the upper plane surface of said first mentioned tile and of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the opposed plane surfaces of said tiles, and said forward mounting plate having its upper and lower ends converging in the direction of the first mentioned tile.

4. As an article of manufacture a wall fixture mounting bracket substantially U-shaped in cross-section for mounting a wall fixture on a tile of a grouted tile wall and wherein said tiles have relatively plane opposed surfaces with grout between them, said U-shaped bracket including a forward mounting plate, a rearwardly spaced hanging arm, and a connecting or bridging base of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles plane surfaces connecting one end of the rearward hanging arm to the forward mounting plate at a point intermediate the upper and lower ends of said forward mounting plate and said connecting or bridging base spacing said mounting plate and hanging arm from one another a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile received therebetween.

5. As an article of manufacture a wall fixture mounting bracket substantially U-shaped in cross-section for mounting a wall fixture on a tile of a grouted tile wall and wherein said tiles have relatively plane opposed surfaces with grout between them, said U-shaped bracket including a forward mounting plate, a rearwardly spaced hanging arm, a connecting or bridging base of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles plane surfaces connecting one end of the rearward hanging arm to the forward mounting plate at a point intermediate the upper and lower ends of said forward mounting plate and said connecting or bridging base spacing said mounting plate and hanging arm from one another a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile received therebetween, and said upper and lower ends of the forward mounting plate converging in the direction of the first mentioned tile.

6. As an article of manufacture a wall fixture mounting bracket for mounting a wall fixture on a tile of a grouted tile wall and wherein said tiles have relatively plane opposed surfaces with grout between them, said mounting bracket comprising a hanger including a forward carrying arm, a rearward hanging arm and a connecting member of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles plane surfaces joining the ends of said arms and with said arms being spaced from one another a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile, and a mounting plate carried by said forward carrying arm outwardly thereof.

7. As an article of manufacture a wall fixture mounting bracket for mounting a wall fixture on a tile of a grouted tile wall and wherein said tiles have relatively plane opposed surfaces with grout between them, said mounting bracket comprising a hanger including a for ward carrying arm, a rearward hanging arm and a connecting member of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles plane surfaces joining the ends of said arms and with said arms being spaced from one another a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile, a mounting plate carried by said forward carrying arm outwardly thereof, and said mounting plate including flanges at its upper and lower edges converging in the direction of the forward carrying arm.

8. As an article of manufacture a wall fixture mount-- ing bracket for mounting a Wall fixture on a tile of a grouted tile Wall and wherein said tiles have relatively plane opposed surfaces with grout between them, said mounting bracket comprising a hanger including a forward carrying arm, a rearward hanging arm and a connecting member of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the grout between the tiles plane surfaces joining the ends of said arms and with said arms being spaced from one another a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the tile, a mounting plate carried by said forward carrying arm outwardly thereof, said mounting plate being in the form of a dish including a bottom through which it is attached to the mounting bracket forward carrying arm, and a peripheral flange outwardly and angularly projecting from said bottom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,887,641 Hoegger Nov. 15, 1932 1,940,888 Smith Dec. 26, 1933 2,053,843 Rossi Sept. 8, 1936 2,059,858 Ernst Nov. 3, 1936 2,320,480 Stagg June 1, 194-3 

